I feel that our family has been very lucky. My parents have been loving and supportive for as long as I can remember. My hubby is awesome and I couldn’t think of having a better partner and dad for our little one. We are healthy, have enjoyable careers, and are surrounded by a supportive group of family and friends. When it comes to finances, I feel like we’re finally in control…
It didn’t always feel like that. When I was single, I felt entitled to buy what I wanted, when I wanted. Afterall, I had a good paying job and well, I worked hard for my money! (Yes, yes, I WAS one of those entitled millennials.) Most of my money went to food. A breakfast from Dunkin Donuts in the mornings. A nice lunch with coworkers during the work day. I also wanted to get around, I no longer had my motorcycle, so I bought myself a brand new car to “treat myself”.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I also did some “responsible things”. For example, I was contributing to my 401k. I was also saving a portion of my checks onto a savings account. However, looking back, I realize that it was all mindless spending. Had I known what I know now, I could’ve had the option to become financially independent by now, deciding what I do with my time, even retire if I really wanted to. Yes, just like Mr Money Mustache, Anita, and Kristy Shen.
In my 20’s, in the moment, my spending felt normal. I had allowed myself to be influenced by others into buying things. When I had my motorcycle, I dropped about $8,000 to buy it and another $200/month to insure it. For a whole year, I paid $90/month to go to a fancy gym by the office. During the weekday, I would easily spend $100-$150/week eating out. I didn’t mind paying the $344/month payment for my new car. I didn’t mind paying the $120/month for the car insurance. Like I said, it all felt normal.
For many years, I had allowed myself to fall under the spell of advertisements. The billboards along the highway. The commercials sprinkled between my favorite tv shows. The “invisible” billboard that is each and every fast food sign in my community. The “sales” that seem to come around every weekend and major holiday. The ads in the train, bus and cab. The magazines that I flip thru, making me feel inadequate and trying to convince me that buying their products will get me to feel “happy”, “fit”, “sexy”, and “beautiful”.
I believe that our communities have fallen to a similar spell. In that, we have allowed ourselves to be controlled by others. Money is powerful. It can provide for basic needs and a sense of security. I’ve also seen that those that have the most money, are oftentimes the ones in control. And I feel that our communities have fallen under the control of a small group of very wealthy people and corporations that have no intention of letting go of that power. This concerns me.
Our communities have tremendous purchasing power and we need to awaken to that fact. When we do, we will start to move the power shift from a small group of wealthy individuals, to the people. To my community, to your community.
Now imagine that. Feeling like you’re in control over your life. At this point, I finally feel that I have control over my life. And I don’t take that for granted, not a single day. There were many things I had to learn and put into practice for me to get to this point and feel that our finances are finally in order. Had someone taught me some basic things about money, I feel that I would’ve gotten there sooner. If anything, I would’ve known I had options.
If you’re reading this, maybe this can help you. I’m already geeking out about these topics when I get a chance. If anyone else in our community can benefit from that, there’s no reason they should have to wait 10 years of making mistakes and correcting that, like I did. Our schools need to be teaching this stuff. Our parents need to be teaching this stuff. It shouldn’t be reserved just for the wealthy families that are already passing this knowledge from generation to generation.
Here’s a list of topics I plan on covering:
- Getting started on the path to financial independence
- The power of investing your money in the stock market (and why I was terrified to start)
- The one thing that I think has the power to redistribute wealth from the ultra rich to the low and middle classes (psst…it’s called compound interest)
- A basic crash course on 401k’s and how this can become an important tool to building wealth
- Taxes. I believe that most of us don’t understand how taxes work and don’t pay much attention to this. This is a big deal, because our current tax system is reducing the purchasing power of our money, hitting the low and middle classes the hardest.
- More on investing on the stock market and why I invest in index funds and not in individual company stocks; I’ll also explain what the heck an index fund is
- Life insurance policies. There are options out there and I want to share what I’ve learned so that you don’t get stuck buying something that may only benefiting the insurance companies. Insurance companies realize that people don’t know how to save money, let alone invest it. They have seen that as an opportunity, creating products that combine life insurance and investing and selling that to us (psst…I’m my opinion, whole life insurance policies SUCK and it’s only lining the pockets of whomever is selling it to you!)
- Explore options for helping for our little one save for college. We’ve done some research but will be revisiting that to make sure we’re not overlooking that. She’s still a toddler, so we still have some time…
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Let’s break free ya’ll.
(Credit: Photo by Slava Keyzman on Unsplash)
Let's Break Free... 